Opera Company of Philadelphia expands its vision with name change

Tuesday

The Opera Company of Philadelphia, in revealing its 2013-2014 season Tuesday, also announced a name change to better reflect the diversity and ambitious scope of its programming.

The company will now be known as Opera Philadelphia, and the new name, brand and logo will appear on its website, in print materials and advertising, as well as in its performance spaces.

The organization had been operating as the Opera Company of Philadelphia since the 1975 merger of the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company and the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company.

“This rebranding is not just an expression of Opera Philadelphia’s future ambitions, but the next step in a creative journey that began several years ago,” says general director and president David B. Devan. “Since 2006, Opera Philadelphia has moved quickly to diversify our repertoire, identify and cultivate rising new talent, and present innovative programs, all in an effort to connect with people in powerful ways. We believe the name Opera Philadelphia represents a thriving present and a bold future for opera in our city, and we invite you to come out and shape that future with us.”

The rebranding will encompass the company's tradition of bringing lavishly staged blockbusters and contemporary works to the Academy of Music and the Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater, as part of the Aurora Series for Chamber Opera, but will also allow for more spontaneous audience interaction and an element of discovery.

Opera in the City, via Random Acts of Culture, will stage surprise performances in crowded, iconic Philadelphia locations, and will also include an annual HD broadcast of an opening night performance at Independence National Historical Park. Additionally next season, a new series will offer a fully staged opera in an unexpected venue.

The name change also reflects a growing commitment to what the company is referring to as "Opera in the Lab." As a leader in the field of new opera development, its American Repertoire Program, which will produce a new American work every year over the course of 10 seasons, already has five new operas in development. (Up next in the program is the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Silent Night," with music by Kevin Puts and libretto by Mark Campbell, opening in February at the Academy of Music). The company also boasts the world’s most comprehensive Composer In Residence program, which it began in 2011 with Lembit Beecher as the first to become immersed in an intensive, three-year residency to learn and explore the many facets of developing and producing opera. Missy Mazzoli has since joined him.

As for the new season, befitting its more contemporary name, Opera Philadelphia will present Ricky Ian Gordon’s new work, "A Coffin in Egypt," as part of its American Repertoire Program, as well as its first-ever production of Verdi's "Nabucco." The season will also include productions of Mozart's "Don Giovanni"; the Grammy-winning "Ainadamar" ("Fountain of Tears"), the first opera from Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov, about the life of celebrated Spanish playwright and poet Federico García Lorca; and "Dialogues of the Carmelites" with the Curtis Opera Theatre.

For more information on those works or the company itself, visit www.operaphila.org.

Naila Francis can be reached at 215-345-3149 or via email at nfrancis@phillyburbs.com.

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